The mission of the Air Force is like a highly complex machine. Each piece of the machine is vital to it operating successfully. The E-9A Widget is a very small, yet highly important piece to that machine.

Arnold Engineering Development Complex engineers at the National Full Scale Aerodynamics Complex assisted in recent testing of sub-scale parachutes for the next mission of the Orion spacecraft, Exploration Mission-1.

When people think of veterans, they often think of warriors, but Hurricane Sandy offers just the latest reminder of the significant humanitarian and often times life-saving work performed by our veterans on a daily basis. As Sandy was still wreaking devastation on the East Coast, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members mobilized on…

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III has named Chief Master Sgt. James A. Cody to serve as the 17th chief master sergeant of the Air Force. Cody will assume his new position on Feb. 1, following the Jan. 31 retirement of current Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy….

Twin NASA probes orbiting the moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body. The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. Data from the two washing machine-sized spacecraft also will…

Boeing Dec. 13 named Pratyush “Prat” Kumar as president of Boeing India, effective Dec. 14. He joins Boeing with significant business leadership experience and insight into the Indian market, having served in senior executive positions at GE Transportation since 2003. Kumar succeeds Dinesh Keskar, who earlier this year returned to Boeing Commercial Airplanes in a…

Following an independent evaluation of Eglin’s capability to conduct F-35A Lightning II pilot training, Air Education and Training Command announced Dec. 17 that the 33rd Fighter Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., can do so starting January 2013. “The preliminary results provided by the Joint Operational Test Team show the F-35A aircraft and its pilot…

Lockheed Martin photograph by Andy Wolfe For the first time, two Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II carrier variant test aircraft refueled together with a Lockheed Martin KC-130 Hercules in the sky above Patuxent River, Md. recently. The CV aircraft, known as CF-1 and CF-2, completed the milestone as part of an F-35 flight test program…

NASA is seeking proposals for flight demonstrations of small satellite technologies with the goal of increasing the technical capabilities and range of uses for this emerging category of spacecraft. Small satellites typically weigh less than 400 pounds and are generally launched as secondary payloads on rockets carrying larger spacecraft. The small satellite category includes softball-sized…

Pilot error blamed for California Navy jet crash Pilot error is being blamed for the fatal crash last year of a Navy fighter jet near a Central California air base. Navy investigators say the plane’s pilot, 33-year-old Matthew Lowe, and weapons officer, 28-year-old Nathan Williams, did not execute a maneuver at the correct air speed…

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Pushing the Boundaries of Propelling Deep Space Missions

Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center are advancing the propulsion system that will propel the first ever mission to redirect an asteroid for astronauts to explore in the 2020s. NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission will test a number of new capabilities, like advanced Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), needed for future astronaut expeditions into deep space, including to Mars.
The Hall thruster is part of an SEP system that uses 10 times less propellant than equivalent chemical rockets. In a recent test, engineers from Glenn and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, using a Glenn vacuum chamber to simulate the space environment, successfully tested a new, higher power Hall thruster design, which is more efficient and has longer life. “We proved that this thruster can process three times the power of previous designs and increase efficiency by 50 percent,” said Dan Herman, Electric Propulsion Subsystem lead.
Hall thrusters trap electrons in a magnetic field and use them to ionize the onboard propellant. The magnetic field also generates an electric field that accelerates the charged ions creating an exhaust plume of plasma that pushes the spacecraft forward. This method delivers cost-effective, safe and highly efficient in-space propulsion for long duration missions. In addition to propelling an asteroid mission, this new thruster could be used to send large amounts of cargo, habitats and other architectures in support of human missions to Mars.
Image Credit: NASA
Michelle M. Murphy (Wyle Information Systems, LLC) Read More

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